(After the Muslim King's death) The Queen governed Lucknow. She was a frugal ruler.
Lucknow is an ancient city; once it was a part of Mughal empire. The city hadn't witnessed war or disorder in the last thousand years. But it had to pay tribute to the Sovereign. Never did it have dispute with neighbouring rulers.
It's a big city, river Gomati winds her course through it. There is a lot of greenery, gardens, bridges. The Nawab had got built a special garden for himself, it is said that it had silver cisterns.
When the strife in North India began, some companies of soldiers supported the Queen; she took over the rule.
The English assaulted the city with a big force. But there was this Nepali general, Jang-Bahadur, who sided with the Queen. He had a force of ten thousand; soon he ran off the English.
The English approached Jang-Bahadur. He was offerred bribe to betray the Queen. Eventually he transferred the loyalty to them. A battle began, it went on for five-six days. The English took the city, the Queen fled. The victors looted the city for several days. Hundreds of men were massacred. It being a big city, some partisans of the royal side kept up the fight in their (respective) burrows.
Tatntya Takes Kalpi
Kalpi is located on the banks of Yamuna. A fine fort stands there, at the riverbanks. Tantya was in this area about the time Lucknow fell. He ransacked many villages and then marched on Kalpi. Some of the troops joined him, and the English inside the fort were outnumbered. After a brief battle, they fled, but were captured by Topi's army and were put to death. Topi raised ochre flag at the fort.
The surrounding area -- which yielded annual revenue of rupees 54 lakh -- came under Topi's control. He began administering it in earnest, Kalpi was made the headquarters, revenue officers were appointed.
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